Chipotle moving its Arlington Heights location, adding app-only drive-through
A Chipotle restaurant inside one Arlington Heights shopping center is moving across the street to the parking lot of another, in a free-standing building with a drive-through.
The popular fast-food chain known for its burritos, tacos and other Mexican fare has had a storefront location at 338 E. Rand Road within the Northpoint Shopping center, for two decades. But company officials said they sought their new location at 711-715 E. Rand Road, within the Southpoint Shopping Center, because of its higher visibility, synergy with Olive Garden and Chili's restaurants, and the ability to add a mobile/digital pickup window.
With the village board's approval Monday night of a special-use permit for the 2,385-square-foot restaurant and drive-through, it would be the only “app-only” drive-through in Arlington Heights, officials said.
Customers who have the Chipotle app on their phones can place an order for pickup. There won't be a menu board or speaker, and anyone who tries to place an order at the pickup window will be asked to come inside, or pull over and download the app, said Richard Silverman, vice president of development at MJK Real Estate, which is developing the 1.23-acre outlot in the Floor & Decor parking lot.
“The younger generation has picked it up,” Silverman said of the app ordering process and drive-through. “The generation prior to them is still learning.”
The board's review of the project Monday also came with conceptual approval for a neighboring 4,419-square-foot restaurant with drive-through for a future fast-food tenant. Specific restaurant plans would have to come back to the village board for approval. For now, the site would be developed as a grass pad.
MJK, the development company based in Northfield, is one of six different owners of retail space within Southpoint, a 1980s-era shopping center that company officials and village board members agreed Monday is in need of revitalization.
On Wednesday, Silverman is expected to return to the plan commission for review of a proposed 3,460-square-foot Consumers Credit Union at 780 E. Rand Road, on other parking lot property MJK owns within Southpoint.